


Used To The Unusual: Phan One-Shot

by penta



Category: Phandom, dan and phil
Genre: Fluff, M/M, enjoy?, figured I might as well upload it here, this is a fic I posted to fanfiction.net about a year and a half ago, this is very domestic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 07:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11226075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penta/pseuds/penta
Summary: It had been cold all day long and the rain would seemingly never end. Most people wouldn't do much on days like this. Daniel Howell and Philip Lester, however, seemed to have other plans. Rated T for language.





	Used To The Unusual: Phan One-Shot

It was a cold and rainy Wednesday afternoon in London, England. December was nearing its end and Christmas was only a few days away. Parts of London had been decorated for the festive season, but the rain made everything look kind of sad. A huge Christmas tree had been placed at the center of the square, but the raindrops weighed the branches down and made the tree look vulnerable and gloomy. The Christmas lights, which emitted bright hues all around town, didn't succeed in giving the somber grey scenery some colour. It had been pouring ever since early this morning, and it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. Most people stayed indoors on days like this, or they at least took a taxi to wherever they were going. But not Philip Lester. Thinking that he'd be back before being drenched to the bone, he had gone outside armed with just his umbrella and a lot of courage.

That wasn't the only mistake he would make that day.

When he'd unlocked the door to their apartment, the handles of a plastic bag with freshly bought doughnuts held in his left hand, he was indeed drenched to the bone. He held his umbrella, or what was left of it, in his right hand. The wind had completely destroyed it, but he couldn't just leave it outside, could he? His raincoat also hadn't done much to protect him as the wind had constantly blown the hood off of his head, resulting in Phil getting entirely soaked. With a relieved sigh, he closed the door behind him and climbed up the stairs, ready to get comfortable.

The living room, which had been icy cold this morning, was now a comfortable warm haven thanks to the fire Dan had started in the fireplace after he had gotten out of bed. But him not being a morning kind of person, he'd almost caught his sleeve in the flames in his drowsiness; he would actually have been on fire, unlike his online alias suggested, he had chuckled. The flames now bathed the room in warm colours. The odour of Phils cinnamon scented candles and the burning wood had mixed together and filled the air, creating the perfect Christmas fragrance. They had already decorated the apartment for the festive season. Various kinds of adornments covered their furniture and the windowsill was decked out with way too many snow globes and reindeer plushies. In the far corner stood their trusty Christmas tree which they assembled every year. Sparkling silvery tinsel and ornaments decorated the entirety of it, and they had topped the tree with their "sexy ghost star", as they had called it in one of their videos. The tinsel they hadn't used now formed a pile of Christmassy mess, cleverly hidden behind their sofa.

As Phil was climbing up the stairs to their apartment, he had started telling Dan all about what had happened to him outside, presuming that he was somewhere in the apartment, probably the living room. He took off his shoes and coat while shaking some moisture out of his dripping black hair and he placed the now non functional umbrella against the wall. Still talking, he grabbed a towel out of the bathroom cabinet and walked toward the living room. Rubbing his hair with the towel, he entered the room to greet Dan, but what he saw wasn't exactly what he'd expected.

He was greeted by the inviting warmth of the fireplace. The crackling of the fire and soft, steady breathing filled Phils ears. There, on their sofa, was the sleeping form of Dan. He seemed totally at ease in the cosy room, as his chest rose and fell rhythmically. He had curled up slightly, his arms hugging a blanket and his body facing the warmth of the fireplace. The corners of his mouth curled up in a content smile, and strands of dark brown hair framed his soft features. He must have been scrolling through Tumblr or something, as his laptop was sitting on the edge of the sofa, still open.

Seeing him like this, Phil was shocked at how happy he suddenly felt. His heart definitely skipped a beat. This feeling, perfectly happy to stay in this moment forever, he had felt several times before. And all were when he was in the presence of Dan. It was just something he managed to do to him.

Dan wriggled a little, and with a loud sigh, he rolled around onto his other side, facing away from Phil, who now realised he had been staring at Dan for quite a while. Feeling a bit guilty, he decided to make it up to Dan by making him some hot chocolate for when he would wake up. So he set the plastic bag with doughnuts on their little coffee table and, whistling happily, made his way to the kitchen.

* * *

 

Daniel Howell had been having a great nap until he heard some kind of sound out of nowhere. It made him wake up abruptly, and he wasn't happy about that at all. After he'd woken up so early this morning to watch some anime with Phil during breakfast, he'd regretted it instantly after. Not that he didn't like hanging out with Phil or anything, because he'd really enjoyed their morning together. But he just wasn't built for dealing with mornings.

Dan was almost never seen before midday, as he always went to bed extremely late. And whenever he got up before that time, which sometimes he did, he wasn't exactly the best company. Grumpy, drowsy and easily irritable- he was best left alone during mornings, and he knew that; so he made a point of sleeping in every day.

This morning had been an exception though. That night at 4 am, when he'd just been scrolling through the web as usual, he'd made the spontaneous decision to change his bad habits. He'd thought it all out. He would go to the gym at least twice a week, eat healthy, and most importantly and hardest of all: get out of bed in the mornings.

That wasn't the only mistake he would make that day.

As it turned out, his plan didn't even survive day one. This hadn't surprised him at all, but he was a little bitter because not only had he almost set himself on fire this morning, he'd already wanted to take a nap a few hours after breakfast. At first, he'd tried to stay awake by scrolling through Tumblr with some music on in his usual browsing position in the sofa crease, but it just proved to be too big of a challenge. So he'd set his laptop aside and went to take a nap. Falling asleep hadn't been hard at all; the fire had warmed the room up to a perfect sleeping temperature and the sofa had suddenly felt extra comfortable once he'd laid down. It had been a peaceful and well deserved nap, until the random sound he just heard had disrupted him.

More sounds now followed. Upon closer analysation, they seemed to be coming from the entrance to their apartment. Familiar footsteps ascended the stairs, and an even more familiar voice travelled up with them.

Suddenly Dan realised. It was Phil. He was home again.

At once, Dan felt his heart warm up. Being in the presence of Phil always made him way happier than he dared to admit. Hearing Phils voice approach the living room, he decided that he'd pretend to be asleep a little longer just to see what would happen. So, smiling slightly, he kept his eyes shut and took deep breaths.

Dan listened to Phil talking about the rain outside when the latter abruptly stopped talking altogether. He had now reached the living room, and his footsteps had halted in the doorway. As he listened to Phils breathing stopping for a few seconds and then continuing again, much deeper and slower than before, Dan just felt so happy. A few moments passed before Dan suddenly got a great idea. He'd decided that he was going to scare Phil. He'd been out of video ideas for a while, and this seemed like a perfect side channel video; maybe even a main channel one if he edited it well enough. His viewers seemed to be the kind of sadistic people who enjoyed things like that, he sensed. He was glad that his viewers were on the same page as him.

Not wanting to show his excitement to Phil, he heaved a sigh to mask his chuckle and rolled onto his other side, now facing the back of the sofa instead of Phil and grinned. After he heard Phil set something onto the coffee table next to him, Dan listened as Phils footsteps left the room again while he whistled happily. It was time to set up his plan.

* * *

 

As Phil walked to the kitchen, he couldn't help but revive what he'd just seen. Moments like that, where he could see Dan all vulnerable like that, had a special place in his heart because he could be a little hard to read sometimes. But right then, he'd looked so peaceful and content. When it was concerning Dan, Phil often unconsciously matched his emotions with his. It was only natural that he was feeling very relaxed right now. The raindrops trickling onto the window didn't bother him anymore, because they now only added to the cosy feeling of the apartment.

About half an hour ago though, he hadn't been feeling quite as happy as he was now.

He and Dan had gotten up fairly early this morning, which seemed very out of character for Dan. Not wanting to ruin his fickle mood, Phil had decided to keep quiet about it, but Dan had seemed very motivated to get the most authentic breakfast experience. They had ended up taking their cornflakes and large cups of coffee onto the sofa and they had watched a few episodes of their new favourite anime together. Phil had been surprised at how well Dan was doing considering his usual morning behaviour, when all of a sudden, after about two episodes, he'd started yawning like crazy. He should have known, Phil had thought to himself. But he was proud of Dan nonetheless because waking up this early must have been very hard for him. He had felt himself smile just thinking about that.

When Dan had literally almost set himself on fire that morning though, Phil had begun to get a little concerned, so he'd decided to go out to buy some doughnuts for the both of them. He was sure that some sugary goodness would wake Dan up and, of course, he would partake in the feast as well, because who doesn't like a good doughnut?

So Phil, armed with his galaxy raincoat and umbrella, had stepped out of the apartment and into the cold shower outside. Instant regret had hit him like a bus. Had the weather been this bad all day long? But there was no turning back now. He was just going to make a run for it, he'd decided.

Which had ended up in him arriving at the bakery twenty minutes later, drenched in rainwater, wet hair sticking to his forehead. The shop had been decorated with Christmas decorations. The clerk had given him a look of pity when he entered the shop. He must have looked like some kind of soggy dog or something.

When he'd selected some tasty-looking doughnuts and went to get his money out of his pocket to pay, he'd been shocked not to find his cash in there. It must have fallen out on the street, he'd grimaced, which meant that the bill would be all kinds of soggy now; not that he would have had much of a chance at finding it again. Luckily for Phil, he still had his credit card on him, so he'd paid and left for home.

Phil hadn't exactly been in the best spirits at this moment, but remembering Dan in the apartment, he'd walked on. The wind was constantly blowing his hood off of his head, and the umbrella had stopped being useful a long time ago, so at this point he'd just been angrily walking while the rain hit him in the face. It had been a real relief to unlock the door to the apartment.

Phil had now made a cup of coffee for himself, and he'd just taken the milk for Dans hot chocolate out of the microwave. He'd flung the slightly damp towel over the radiator to dry. He mixed the cocoa powder in with the milk until the drink became an even brown. He knew that Dan liked his hot chocolate to be extra sweet (and full of diabetes, as he always told Phil) so, smiling at the thought, he put a few marshmallows into the hot drink. Taking their mugs in either hand, Phil made his way back to the living room. But when he entered the room, he immediately noticed that the sofa on which Dan had been sleeping was now cold and empty. There was still a crease where his body had pressed down on it, and the blanket he had been holding onto was haphazardly thrown to the side. The room hadn't changed much, yet the most essential part of it was gone. Dan was nowhere to be seen.

"Dan?" Phil called out into the hallway, thinking that maybe he'd gone to the loo or something like that. But apart from the steady crackling of the fire in the living room and persistent raindrops still hitting the windows, no sounds were heard. He scanned the hallway for any indications as to where Dan could have gone, but when he didn't find anything he returned to the now strangely empty living room. The bag of donuts was still on their coffee table, untouched.

Had he gone out? With this weather, and considering the sounds that he would have heard if Dan had indeed left the apartment, he didn't deem it highly probable. But if he was still in the apartment, where could he possibly have gone that he didn't hear Phil calling out?

"Dan! Where are you?" he called slightly louder. Phil was getting a little concerned now. It was very unusual for Dan to not respond to him, unless-

And then it hit him.

-unless he pulled a prank on him. His realisation had been a fraction too late though.

Out of nowhere, a loud noise sounded right next to his ear. Phil spun around immediately, losing his balance in the process and tripping over. Releasing the mugs from his hands to protect his body, he heard the ceramic shatter loudly and with a dull thud his body hit the floor. His heart was beating very fast. It was only now that Phil registered the source of the noise, and what he saw right under him almost made him jump back up again. It turned out he hadn't landed on the floor, but on a person.

A few inches from his own, he saw Robert Pattinsons face. "What the- Dan!"

Flashbacks of that particular Robert Pattinson mask flashed through Phils mind. He had once gotten Dan the mask for Christmas as a joke, and since then Dan had scared him multiple times using the bloody thing.

Dan, Phil now realised, was wearing the mask again. The former started cussing loudly.

"Crap crap crap! Ouch, it fucking burns- bollocks!"

Seeing the scorching hot drinks spilled all over Dans right arm, Phil got up as fast as he possibly could and went to get a wet washcloth and some toothpaste to neutralise the burn. Luckily, he knew how to treat burns like these from his own childhood experiences. Ideally, he would have Dan hold his arm under streaming water for ten minutes, but Phil wanted to check if he was alright beside his arm first. He rushed back to the living room carrying his supplies. When he entered again, he saw Dan sitting on the ground, knees pulled up to his chest and hands covering his face. The mask was now lying in the corner of the room, next to the Christmas tree. This sight only made Phil more worried than he already was. His heart still beating faster than normal, he quickly got down to his knees in front of Dan and pressed the washcloth against the skin of his hurt arm. That should at least relieve the pain a bit for now. He just hoped that Dan was okay.

"Hey- are you alright? Dan?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.

But instead of a verbal answer, in response to his question, face still hidden in his hands, Dan started shaking.

In shock, Phil had trouble processing the situation. Was Dan actually... crying?

* * *

 

Dan tried his hardest to remain as still as possible until Phils footsteps sounded far away enough. When he heard the clinking of mugs in their kitchen, he figured that he'd have some time before Phil would come back, so he set his plan into action.

First, he would have to get something to film everything. He felt in his jeans pockets and, like he'd suspected, his phone was still inside of his right front pocket like always. He'd rather have used his professional camera, but his phone would have to do this time.

Now he just had to get the Robert Pattinson mask from his bedroom. He had scared Phil a few times before with it, and he chucked at the image of Phil's shocked face every time he scared him. It wouldn't surprise him if Phil had developed some kind of phobia for Robert Pattinson. They'd have to watch some Twilight soon, he noted. Making sure not to knock something over on accident or bump into the coffee table, on which, by the way, was now sitting a very suspicious-looking plastic bag, he slowly got up from the couch and carefully manoeuvred through the room and into the hallway, listening for any clues of Phil returning early. Sneaking past the kitchen, he heard the buzzing of the microwave, which thankfully concealed any sounds Dan made. Finally, he stealthily slipped through the crack in the door opening to his bedroom. Or better said, under all the mess right there should be a bed, and that pile of socks could be hiding a nightstand. Thank god he always left his door open though, or else the creaking could have given his position away. Now where had he left the goddamn mask?

It had taken him a few minutes, and finally he ended up mildly scared himself when he discovered a face staring at him from the floor right below him, next to some cd's he'd been playing yesterday. Messy as always, he half-heartedly scolded himself.

Peeking into the hallway, he'd just deemed the coast clear when he noticed something odd. It was too quiet. The microwave had stopped buzzing.

Right at that moment, the silhouette of Phil appeared from the kitchen and into the hallway. Hearing his heartbeat in his ears, Dan felt adrenaline rush through his body. That was close. Fuck yeah, he was the sneak master; all those hours playing a stealthy archer in Skyrim had finally paid off, he grinned. Dan proceeded by putting on the mask and he slowly tiptoed back to the living room. He froze when he heard Phils voice from that same direction.

"Dan?"

Quickly, he hid behind the door to Phils bedroom, and he instantly felt truly grateful that he left his bedroom door open all the time too. Phils face peeked into the hallway, his eyes scanning the floor where he had just been crouching. But when all remained silent, he disappeared into the living room again.

Dan knew that this was probably his best chance, so he turned on the camera and stealthily crept up to the doorway until he saw Phils back before him.

"Dan! Where are you?"

You're gonna know where I am real soon, Dan smirked. Without even the slightest bit of mercy, he jumped and called out right next to Phils ear, making sure to point the camera at his face.

Feeling victorious, he watched Phil spin around like crazy. He was very amused by the look of utter terror on his face, blue eyes widened in shock. But other than that, to his dismay, Dan also noticed two mugs containing suspiciously fuming liquids in Phils hands. Of course, that walnut had made hot drinks just when he shouldn't have.

The next moment happened as if in slow motion. Phil somehow started falling over, and he knocked Dan out of balance too. He saw the two mugs of death leave Phils hands, and as Dans body hit the ground he felt Phil land on top of him. And then, like icing on the cake, the content of one of the mugs landed on his arm. He was in pain; his head hurt, and not only was his body being squished, but now he felt the skin on his arm burn. The feeling of Phils body pressing onto him, however, felt oddly calming in some way. Different from the room they were in, Phil smelled like rain from being outside. His hair was still slightly damp.

"What the- Dan!" Phil squealed, bringing him back to reality.

Dan now felt the full extent of the boiling hot liquid on his bare skin and vented his pain by cussing loudly.

He felt Phils weight lift off of his body, and when Dan turned his head to the hallway, he saw him dash out of sight to probably get some stuff to treat his arm.

Dan took off the mask and after looking at Robert Pattinsons face once more, he threw it across the room. Sitting up, he pulled up his knees to his chest and, despite being in pain, he felt laughter bubbling up in his chest. A giggle escaped his lips. He felt his face turn red, and, still giggling, he lifted up his burnt arm to look at it. His skin was now an angry red. He pulled his eyes away from his arm to look at the hot mess around him, literally. There were stains everywhere. He discovered his phone a few metres across the room, still filming. He must have thrown it away in shock, he figured.

"Dan, you fucking derp." he mumbled to himself, hissing through his grin. This little prank of his had certainly not gone the way he'd wanted it to. But Dan already knew he was a fail; he'd made a video series about it for fucks sake.

Throwing his face in his hands, he started to really experience the pain in his right arm. Suddenly he felt something cold pressed against that same spot, and instant relief followed. He heard Phils distressed breathing in front of him as he pressed the thing- a washcloth maybe?- against his arm.

"Hey- are you alright? Dan?"

Dan felt himself begin to shake, and it wasn't long before he threw his head back and broke out into obnoxiously loud laughter. This whole situation was so stupid. But lowering his head and seeing the look on Phils face, he stopped laughing instantly. Phils grip on the washcloth slacked a little and he looked very shocked. Dan suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over him. Phil had been worried about him, made drinks for the both of them; and all he'd done for him was play hide and seek and laugh about being hurt. God, he must seem like such a masochist right now, he cringed. He obviously wasn't. Those lemon fanfic writers needed to get their facts right.

Looking away from Phil, Dan started to apologise, his guilt making it difficult to speak.

"Phil, I- I am so sorry." he stuttered. "I just wanted to surprise you, and it all seemed like a great idea. But I didn't know that you had such deadly objects in your hands. And I feel really guilty now because you worried about me and- this didn't go according to plan..."

* * *

 

Dan was now, for some odd reason, apologizing to him, and although Phil felt relieved that he was okay, he wasn't in the slightest bit mad at him. He had been worried about him is all, but pulling a prank like that was so typically Dan. Bursting out laughing like that was even more typically Dan. This morning even, when they had watched anime, Dan had started cackling without warning at something a character had said. Phil loved watching him laugh; it made him happy too.

Phil felt the corners of his mouth curl up involuntarily. He looked at Dan while he talked without really listening to what he was saying. His cheeks were red, perhaps from having just woken up, or on second thought, probably because of that little outburst of maniacal laughter right then. Dan was purposefully avoiding Phils eyes, and he looked very… cute doing so. But he looked cute doing almost anything, Phil knew. Like when he's gaming; he always gets so into whatever he's playing and sometimes, when Phil talks to him while he's playing a game, he doesn't even notice him.

Like before, Phil felt his heart skip a beat. All worries were completely forgotten after looking at Dans face.

He hadn't even been listening to what Dan had been saying to him, because he had been way too absorbed in studying his face. So when Dan finally looked him in the eyes again, Phil jumped a bit, which made Dan chuckle again. Phil was shocked at how lively the brown eyes in front of him looked. Seeing Dan so cheerful, he felt his own smile growing wider and wider, exposing his teeth. And then, as if planned, they broke out into a chuckle; which only resulted in them bursting out laughing even louder.

"Dan, you absolute nitwit. I thought you were crying there for a second." Phil told him, fighting back a grin. "We could have gotten seriously hurt! Look at your arm, look at what you've done." he said, gesturing at the mess around them. "You definitely failed, although I must admit that that mask freaks me out every time."

Although he obviously wasn't mad at Dan, Phil still wanted to at least pretend to be a little bit, as if to take revenge. He had a feeling that he wasn't being very convincing though.

"Sorry, Phil." Dan answered with a slightly lowered voice, a smile still decorating his lips, sending a shiver down Phils spine. He wondered how the things Dan did always affected him so easily. Phil smiled back at him.

As they sat there on the floor in the living room, the fireplace still crackling soundly, casting fiery shadows across the room, the smell of Christmas filling their noses, the shattered mugs, dark liquid and the odd marshmallow now and again around them, they looked at each other contently amidst all the chaos. This was the way they lived, and while it may not always have been the easiest, they wouldn't want it any other way. They had come to appreciate each other for who they were. Dan with his obnoxious laughter, internet humour, weird music taste and spontaneous ideas and Phil with his funky socks, love for lions and also a very caring and gentle personality. They complimented each other so well; and at moments like these, when they would just look at each other silently, they knew that this was how it was supposed to be.

However horrible either of them might feel, their other half would always be right there for them to cheer them up. And that, the both of them thought, was one of the most beautiful things you could ever ask for in a friendship.

They had gotten used to the unusual.

Seconds, minutes- how long had it been?- and finally Phil broke the silence, still grinning:

"Let's treat your arm properly, alright? After that, you can clean up this bloody mess you've made and make us some new hot drinks. I even put some marshmallows in your hot chocolate!"

"Noooo! My marshmallows died because of me- I'm horrible, aren't I? I'd been wondering what those little white balls on the floor were. Now I know that they're marshmallow corpses." he mused. "Oh, and don't think that I'm going to clean this mess up," he smirked, "because you were the one who had decided that now was a good time to make hot drinks. How could I have known?"

A while later, when Dans arm had been treated and the living room had been more or less cleaned by the both of them, they descended onto the sofa with their coffee and marshmallow hot chocolate or "pure diabetes in a mug!" as Dan proudly proclaimed and hungrily attacked the doughnuts Phil had gotten them. Dan had watched the video footage on his phone but, to his displeasure, noticed that the footage was out of focus, so he'd ended up not posting it to any of his channels.

During the rest of that evening, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But then again, their daily lives always seemed a bit out of the ordinary when they were together. It had continued to rain, and it had even started to thunder now; but however cold it might be outside, the apartment was as warm as the spirits of its inhabitants.

They never quite got the stains out of their carpet though.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a fic I wrote quite a while ago and I figured I might as well post it here. Having said that, please forgive any grammar and/or spelling mistakes! I was but a teeny lil beany back then.


End file.
